This invention relates to non-volatile storage for gaming machines such as slot machines and video poker machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to hardware and methods for facilitating non-volatile memory management techniques implemented in a gaming machine.
Advances in technology have led to gaming machines capable of providing a number of different games to a player. As a convenience to the player and as a way to extend his/her play time, multiple-game gaming machines can be a significant benefit to a casino. From the casino's perspective, a single gaming machine that is capable of playing a number of different games may provide a significant reduction in cost to the owner. It will also provide an enhanced experience to a player at reduced incremental cost to the casino owner.
In order to change the games stored on a gaming machine, a new game must be installed and mounted at the gaming machine. This often requires that an existing game be removed from the gaming machine memory. When this is performed, the contents of the non-volatile random access memory (NV-RAM) must be modified. In systems of prior art, the modification requires that the existing NV-RAM memory be cleared and replaced with a newly compiled memory map reflecting the addition or removal of particular game(s).
The process of re-compiling or re-initialization of the contents of the NV-RAM undesirably deletes all information related to the gaming machine's critical data. Such critical data may comprise game history information, accounting information, security information, player tracking information, or any other type of historical state related information.
The game history information may provide a record of outcomes for a number of rounds of play for a game in a gaming machine. For example, the game history information may be used to verify the payouts of a gaming machine so that a verification of a winning jackpot may be performed before a payout is made if suspicious activity is recognized. Game history may also be used, for example, to audit the types of jackpots generated over a specified number of rounds of play or to provide evidence that a gaming machine has been tampered with. Hence, this type of information is critical to the casino or gaming machine owner.
Information that provides a running count or history of the credits that go in and out of the gaming machine may provide valuable accounting information. For example, a gaming machine's cumulative number of credits may be based on the bills or coins collected, the amount of credits generated from the insertion of a credit card, or bonus credits created by inputting a PIN (personal identification number). This type of data is extremely important to a casino owner because it provides the revenue a gaming machine generates over a period of time.
Security information may provide information related to a tampering event on the gaming machine. The details of this information may include time of day, type of game, the amount wagered, the specific outcome, and any operational information, such as diagnostics related to the condition of the gaming machine when tampering occurred.
Player tracking information is also vital to providing valuable feedback regarding a player's preferences. A casino may track player information to provide the best and most desirable playing environment to the player. Whether it be type of game, denomination of game, length of play, amount played, or the like, these factors provide invaluable information to the casino owner on how he/she can better attract and maintain play from a player.
Hence, it is important that the various critical data previously described be securely maintained during the addition or removal of a game from a gaming machine and at all other times. The deletion of critical data from NV-RAM results in numerous drawbacks.
As touched on above, the prior art process for adding or removing a game from a gaming machine requires a complete recompilation of the NV-RAM memory, creating a new fixed map. This procedure is tedious because it may require the careful removal and replacement of the existing NV-RAM from the gaming machine. It is contemplated that the NV-RAM may be reprogrammed without removing it from the gaming machine; however, the process may result in downtime and inconvenience to a customer, resulting in loss of casino revenue. Additional time and labor is required to accomplish this task for each gaming machine. As a result, the incremental cost per machine may be substantial.
Prior art systems utilize a fixed memory map approach that does not permit the dynamic use of NV-RAM memory space. Hence, the fixed memory map reserves memory that is often unused and un-needed for a game during the mapping process. Were this memory space not reserved, it could be used to store critical data associated with another game or created from the addition of new game software. This memory allocation procedure results in a barrier to providing efficient and expedient game changes on a gaming machine.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for gaming machine memory management that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.